The rising numbers of the homeless in DeKalb is reflective of the increasing rate of poverty in the United States.

After rising for the fourth consecutive year, the poverty rate has reached 12.7 percent, according to the Census Bureau.

The number of homeless families in DeKalb has increased steadily since 1990, said Lesly Wicks, executive director of the local homeless shelter Hope Haven, 1145 Rushmore Drive.

Wicks said the reason for this increase is the lack of affordable housing in DeKalb.

“There’s a gap between good-paying jobs and housing people can afford,” Wicks said.

Wicks said there is a misconception that people at the shelter are unemployed and are drug abusers or people who are mentally ill.

“The homeless population we serve in DeKalb County is working people who just don’t make enough to afford housing, utilities and food and the rising cost of living,” she said.

Associate economics professor Carl Campbell agrees the job situation has been worsening.

Campbell said technical jobs involving lower skills are becoming replaceable and many less-skilled jobs are being sent overseas.

The smaller demand for workers without a college degree is one cause of rising poverty, he said.

With the rising poverty, the DeKalb County Housing Authority provides federally-funded housing assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher Program, subsidized housing and public housing for low-income families.

Through these programs, the government pays a portion of rent, based on income, and the residents pay about 30 percent toward rent and utilities.

There are 280 families in public housing units and over 500 families in subsidized housing within DeKalb County, said Karen Unger, an administrator at the DeKalb County Housing Authority.

Unger said there were 652 families on the waiting list as of Sept. 1.

“We’re pretty much full all the time,” Unger said. “Very seldom does [the waiting list] get down below 300- 400.”